Game Show Cheats
Lead-in
Who wants to be a Millionaire? is one of the most popular TV game shows in the world. Discuss
the questions about it with a partner.
1.
2.
3.
Have you ever watched the programme? If so, what is it called in your country? Do you
enjoy watching it? Why?
Why is the programme so popular all over the world?
Here are five rules for playing the game. Which ‘rule’ is false?
a. Contestants answer questions, by choosing one of four possible answers.
b. Questions get increasingly difficult until the contestant gets an answer wrong, (and
loses most of the money they have won), or decides to stop playing, and takes the
money they have won up to that point.
c. If a contestant doesn’t know an answer, he/she can phone a friend or ask the audience
if they know the answer.
d. A friend of the contestant in the audience is allowed to signal the answers.
e. If the contestant answers all the questions, he/she wins a million.
Vocabulary
Answer the Who wants to be a Millionaire? vocabulary questions. If you answer all the questions
correctly you win a million pounds. If you don’t know the answer, you can phone a classmate.
1
If you are dishonest when you play a game or do an exam, then what are you doing?
A
stealing
B
cheating
C
drawing
D
joking
£100
2
If you make a noise with your throat, what is it called?
A
a cough
B
a sneeze
C
a snore
D
a sniff
£1000
If something is of poor quality, what is it?
A
dirty
B
C
shabby
D
£10000
3
4
naughty
filthy
If you think of a good plan, then what do you do?
A
come up to a plan
B
come down to a plan
C
come down with a plan
D
come up with a plan
 Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2003
Taken from the culture section in www.onestopenglish.com
£100000
5
6
If a dream holiday goes wrong, then it turns ____________.
A
rough
B
sour
C
over
D
stiff
£500000
If are completely in love with something, then what are you?
A
besotted
B
betrothed
C
berated
D
bemoaned
£1 million
Reading 1
You are going to read a newspaper article about an attempt to win the British version of Who
wants to be a Millionaire? by cheating.
Read the passage and find the information below.
1
2
3
4
How many people were involved in the attempt to cheat on the programme?
What were their jobs?
Were they sent to prison?
Why were they caught?
 Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2003
Taken from the culture section in www.onestopenglish.com
Guilty: trio who tried to cheat their way to £1m
by Jeevan Vasagar
An army major, his wife and a college
lecturer were found guilty this week of
attempting to cheat on the game show Who
Wants To Be A Millionaire? Major Charles
Ingram and his wife, Diana, both 39, were
convicted along with a college lecturer,
Tecwen Whittock, 53, after the three came
up with a scheme to defraud the quiz show
of £1m.
As the army officer was in the hot seat on
the show, the lecturer, who sat one metre
behind him, coughed to steer him towards
the right answers. The major'
s wife was the
point of contact between the two. The major
was given a cheque for £1m, but it was
stopped after the programme'
s makers
became suspicious and contacted police.
The three were spared prison because the
Ingrams have young children. However, the
Ingrams of Easterton, Wiltshire, were
sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended
for two years, each fined £15,000 and
ordered to pay £10,000 in costs.
Whittock, head of business studies at
Pontypridd further education college in
Wales, was sentenced to 12 months in
prison, also suspended for two years, and
was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay
£7,500 in costs.
Judge Geoffrey Rivlin said: "I'
m not at all
sure it was sheer greed that motivated this
offence. I'
m sure that all three of you were
besotted with quiz programmes, and
ambitious to be successful on a major TV
show. It was this that caused you to wonder
whether you could beat and - it has to be
said - cheat the system."
What the judge described as the "shabby
schoolboy trick" of coughing to mark the
right answers was more successful than they
could have hoped for. But their win turned
sour "when you realised you had gone too
far".
The army has launched an inquiry into
whether the major can continue to serve.
The Guardian Weekly 20-3-0410, page 9
Reading 2
Read the passage in more detail and answer the questions. Discuss them with a partner.
1
2
3
How did the attempt to cheat on the programme work?
Why didn’t they go to prison?
Why did they do it?
Do you think the sentence of the court was fair?
 Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2003
Taken from the culture section in www.onestopenglish.com
Vocabulary in context
There are many phrases in the passage connected with ‘the law’. Replace the words in italics in
each sentence with a synonym from the box.
He was found guilty of a crime.
He was ordered to pay £100
A suspended prison sentence means that the person will only go to prison if they commit another
crime within a fixed period?
Follow-up
You are going to play Who wants to be a millionaire? In pairs write five grammar or vocabulary
questions. Write four possible answers to each question. Here is an (easy) example:
Which word doesn’t mean very large?
A
enormous
B
huge
C
vast
D
tiny
Put your questions in order, from the easiest to the most difficult. Ask one student from the class
to come to the front. Ask him/her your questions. The first question is worth £100, the second
£1000, the third £10000, the fourth £100000, and the last, £1m.
The student must answer your questions, and find out how much they can win. Remember that
they can phone a classmate (once), and ask the class, (once).
When they have finished, change contestant and question master. How many students win £1
million? Ask your teacher for the money.
 Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2003
Taken from the culture section in www.onestopenglish.com
Teacher’s notes - Game Show Cheats
Lead-in
Find out which students have watched Who wants to be a Millionaire? It is popular in many
countries in the world. Pair up students who know about the programme with students who
don’t. If your students have never heard of it, briefly summarise the game.
Put the students in pairs or groups to discuss the questions.
Answers
1
Students’ ideas.
2
Students’ ideas. Suggestions: the amount of money, and the tension involved when
people must decide whether to risk an answer, is very compelling.
3
D is false
Vocabulary
Ask students to answer the Who wants to be a Millionaire? vocabulary questions. If they don’t
know an answer, you can phone (ask) a classmate.
Answers
1 B
2 A
3 C
4 D
5 B
6 A
Reading 1
Ask students to read the passage and find the information.
Answers
1
3
2
Army officer (Major Ingram), college lecturer (Tecwen Whittock), don’t know (Diana
Ingram).
3
No
4
Because they went too far.
Reading 2
Ask students to read the passage in more detail and answer the questions, then discuss them with
a partner.
Answers
1 Whittock coughed to signal the correct answer to Major Ingram.
2 They had children.
3 They were besotted with trying to win a quiz programme.
 Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2003
Taken from the culture section in www.onestopenglish.com
Vocabulary in context
Put the students in pairs to replace the words in italics in each sentence with a synonym from the
box.
Answers
Found guilty = Convicted.
Ordered to pay = Fined
Crime = Offence
Follow-up
Put students in pairs to write five grammar or vocabulary questions. Students take it in turns to
be contestants and quizmasters.
Alternatively, prepare a pile of Who wants to be a Millionaire? questions which revise
vocabulary and grammar that you have recently taught. Then play the game as described.
 Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2003
Taken from the culture section in www.onestopenglish.com